Engine shuts off while driving
 

2006 Chrysler Towne and Country, 3.8 liter V-6. Driving down the interstate at 70 mph and the motor shut off. Pulled over in the median and started the car back up. Just the other day while sitting at a red light the engine shut off again while at the light. Does anyone have an idea to what the problem could be? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

any codes in the engine computer?

No codes on the computer. Took it to a dealership and they said they could not duplicate the problem. Suggested cleaning the injection system and new spark plug wires according to the computer. I think that was BS because the engine shut off after their expert recommendation. So I have been researching hard on the internet and I thought I would change the cam and crankshaft sensors, and according to the advice of a very knowledgeable person from Autozone. We'll see if that fixes the problem. I did it myself and saved a lot of money.

Do you have any other suggestions? That would help as well. If this does not work I am looking at a new engine control computer.

dont replace anything until u can get definitive confirmation that its a sensor or something like that throwing parts at an issue makes it worse. And for god sake dont put a pcm in it wont be the cause of this.

I understand what you are saying, but in my opinion this is avery serious situation concerning my wife and two young kids riding in this vehicle. There is a very good probability of an accident occurring based upon the right circumstances when the engine shuts off. So I will throw all the money I can at this problem because the Chrysler dealership that originally dealt with this problem has lost my faith. It seemed they didn't have a care because they couldn't duplicate the problem.

Now let me ask you if the BCM could cause this problem? Before the problem with the engine shutting down I had problems with the door locks locking and unlocking. The dealership replaced the actuators in some of the doors. I just find it disturbing that 3 door locks had the same problem at the same time. Could something electrical be going on that is affecting the electrical to the engine?

Things like that just piss me off to no end. I've worked with people like that and it's frustrating to watch it happen and what's worse is when the service advisor let's it happen.

I would say the crank sensor was a good guess for a layman. I would be looking in that area myself if I had your repair order, but also would be looking at the wiring harness under the battery tray and see of any acid is eating at it and the wiring harness next to transmission on front corner and see of it is rubbing on solenoid pack. Maybe even an oxydized fuse or relay contacts.

Please do yourself a favor and go somewhere else. These guys are just gonna jack you around...NO QC going on there apparently.

Sounds like fuel starvation when it shuts down at high speed and then re-starts. They'll have to drop the tank to check that one out, however.

Thanks for the info and agreeing with me about the poor quality of service.

During my installation of the crank sensor I had to take out the battery and the tray it sits in to be able to get to the sensor. It was unfortunate that part of the exhaust was obstructing me from getting my hand on it. I didn't see anything unusual concering an acid leak. The tray was pretty clean. I did see a drip tube for that specific issue. I didn't notice anything. However I will double check the harnesses.

The crank sensor looked pretty clean when I removed it, but it could have been bad. I replaced the cam sensor and it had a gummie brown build up on it when I removed it. But I don't know if the build came from the engine, or from the stuck on paper spacer when it came off during starting. You know the adhesive used on the spacer could have caused the build up over time. Don't know.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Don't worry about that it's normal. Funny little place where it sits oil sprays up in there and gets stuck and glazes over. Have to wiggle them out with a prybar sometimes in older ones.

Hope you solved your problem. Let us know if anything new arises.